st: Merging problem

[masanja@tehip.or.tz]

Dear statalister

I have 2 files one containing information at household level and another 
one at individual level. I would like to have each individual to in a 
household have a value of an index which is at household level. When merged 
two files on perm_id, here is what I get. Some individual are missing the 
value of the index. When I do it on family_id, it gives me un-anticipated 
results. What is the trick here?

        family_id        perm_id                 index
    1. BUA000001  BUA000001002          .
    2. BUA000001  BUA000001003          .
    3. BUA000001  BUA000001004          .
    4. BUA000001  BUA000001005          .
    5. BUA000001  BUA000001006          .
    6. BUA000001  BUA000001007   6.163015
   10. BUA000004  BUA000004002          .
   11. BUA000004  BUA000004003          .
   12. BUA000004  BUA000004004   8.866956

Sincerely

Masanja

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